Nonlinear control strategies for quadrotors and CubeSats

Abstract

This thesis is presented in two parts. In the first part, a fully nonlinear controller is developed for controlling the position and attitude of the Crazyflie quadrotor. In order to use this controller, a system identification is first performed in order to completely model the dynamics of the Crazyflie quadrotor. A proof of convergence is also given for this controller to show that the developed controller is globally exponentially stable. The controller is then implemented on hardware and a quadrotor testbed capable of flying 10-15 quadrotors simultaneously, is developed. In the second part of the thesis, a Systems Engineering study for formation flying CubeSats has been undertaken. Two different kinds of formation flying missions using 4-6 CubeSats have been developed, one with an actively controlled formation and the other with a passively controlled formation. Different controllers have been developed for these missions and the current technological bottlenecks in realizing these missions have been identified.